Brake! Brake!!!!

We did the Jumping Branch Farm Schooling HT yesterday. Great ,great event, I really miss their 3-day horse trial that used to be in March.... it was so well-run, nice move-up courses that asked all the questions without getting anyone in too much hot water.... and the Powers That Be (USEF) had to start a stink about "upgrading" the courses (more max fences, etc.) and JBF just said "no thanks, we'll just do schooling HTs and you can just kiss the money we made you bye-bye". Seriously, this event was so popular that you had to make sure your entry was postmarked on OPENING DAY and PRAY that you would get in....! As a schooling one-day event they run FOUR dressage rings and had IIRC 137 entries. Yikes!!

Got up at 3:30 am to drive down and make my 8:18 dressage time for Revi's first full Preliminary HT. Arrived in plenty of time and had a decent warm-up and test, though Revi was a bit tentative.... she really does not like doing dressage on grass, I need to do more flatwork out in the front field! I also forgot the halt at the beginning of the test, had to restart, and then was a little tense myself! We were in third after dressage with a 37....

Walked cross-country which was just as I remembered with maybe two fences changed. Which was fine! Came back, warmed up for showjumping... and about four horses before we were to go, cross-country started.... and fence 5 is right next to the back of the showjumping warmup. A fact which did not escape Revi's notice! She was a bit hyped up when we went in the ring. Fence one was a big dark brown oxer with the sun behind it.... I think it was just a big dark mass to Revi and we rolled off the front rail. The second fence was a big oxer, then a turn downhill to a VERY vertical vertical. Several horses had run down the slope, propped/added at the last second, and knocked the HECK out of it. So I half-halted and Revi really listened, got a nice spot and cleared it. But at fence five, the combination, I got her too close and she had a rail (but most horses would probably not have jumped!) and got out cleverly over the second element. I did notice she was jumping a bit left, but the chiropractor is coming Tuesday which will probably take care of that!

So we had two rails in showjumping but so did a LOT of people. Cross-country went great, except I had to spend too much time arguing with her to get her to set up before the harder questions. She just wanted to treat everything like a fly fence! But she was GREAT at all the harder stuff.... there was a skinny chevron, a lovely coffin in the woods, some big tables, a triple at the water (ascending rails, wall/drop into the water, skinny out), a bank/ditch/skinny combo, a ditch with a rail fence behind it, and a corner with options. The ditch in front of the rails was waaaay wider than I remembered (of course, last time I jumped it my horse was 4" taller....) but Revi didn't bat an eye. We took the short option at the corner, and Revi jumped a little crooked and racked my knee on the left-hand flag. That stung! But, finished with just a handful of time faults. We ended up in 2nd.... the horse who was leading after dressage had a stop on xc. Not bad for her first Prelim HT! But, lots of room for improvement.

Doing the CT at the Ark in two weeks to work on stadium and dressage.... today I schooled her in a latex-wrapped bubble gag, only had to touch the gag rein a couple of times for her to realize the gig was up and brakes were now mandatory. She is a smart little brat!